THE ROAD AHEAD
What went down during Madrid Fusion 2020
With over 2,000 presenters, chefs and exhibitors, the 18th rendition of Madrid Fusion sets the record as the biggest one yet; Destin Tay receives a crash course on the direction of Spanish and European gastronomy, amidst news of ecological constraints and technological advancement.
Being a foodie in the current era can be thought provoking. We would all love to enjoy the best ingredients with reckless abandon, but we have to stop and consider our impact on the world at large. Sobering headlines of declining ocean stocks, deforestation, and climate change populate our newsfeeds. It’s no wonder our current era has been dubbed the “Anthropocene” – a new geological age influenced by our significant impact on the environment.
But, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.
Despite the news, gastronomy can still be the light to an increasingly volatile culinary world. Limitations breed creativity, after all. And creativity, especially when applied to more restrictive ingredients such as vegetables, is the lifeblood of any good chef. With trailblazers such as Dan Barber, René Redzepi and Dominique Crenn having proven that such a style of gastronomy is possible, the stage has been set for chefs of the future.
This potential for innovation was a rousing prospect; and peering at the schedule of Madrid Fusion on my latenight Emirates flight reignited a curiosity and desire to learn that I have not felt since my time in culinary school. With 230 exhibitors and up to 20 different talks each day from a multitude of acclaimed chefs, I had my work cut out for me. The excitement was palpable, sleep was so-so. Arriving in Madrid, I recovered the pep in my step, hit by a welcoming five degree weather after Singapore’s cool but humid season. While I was nowhere near the vibrant city centre, I was thankful for the quiet five-minute walk from the Novotel to the Feria de Madrid expo, which built up the momentum to the sights and sounds of Madrid Fusion.
I had attended other food conventions in Singapore, but none quite compares to the spectacle of Madrid Fusion. The 16,000 sq m of exhibition space brimmed with an air of competition, with increasingly elaborate booth décor and vibrantly coloured displays as far as the eye can see. (I counted at least five fog machines.) International warehouse chain Makro impressed the most; with faux storefronts hawking pristine heirloom tomatoes and Jamon by the plate, an extensive live seafood display, and a dry-aging cabinet stocked with glorious cuts of beef. Beyond the food displays were other equally exciting events, such as Madrid International Pastry – a concurrent forum within Madrid Fusion with daylong conferences on the fine arts of bread, pastry and chocolate making – and The Drinks Show segment of talks, masterclasses and tastings hosted by chefs and bartenders.
FAD DIETS
When thinking about the future of an industry, it’s inevitable that current trends have to be considered; and there’s none quite prevalent as the increasing demands for vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free menus. The list goes on. The questions then remain; should chefs insist on serving a menu only in a specific way; offer alternatives to certain dishes; or be completely avant-garde and exercise true creativity to circumvent these restrictions?
Several of the presenters attempted to answer these concerns. Josep Roca of the Roca Brothers, sommelier of El Celler de Can Roca, spoke of the need for chefs to have the confidence and knowledge to change sections of the menu on the fly. He even brought the restaurant’s front-of-house team to further illustrate the importance of communication within the restaurant. Next came René Frank of Coda Dessert Dining & Bar, where the refusal to use industrial sugars has led to the utilisation of natural sweeteners, fruit ripening and fermentation to craft his sevencourse sweet and savoury dessert dining menus. And lastly, Ivan and Sergey Berezutsky of Russian restaurant Twins Garden turned the formula on its head with their 3D printed ‘squid’, as a way to serve seafood to those who can’t enjoy it. Beans, algae, sugar and seaweed were cooked and dehydrated to form a paste that was firm enough to be printed into the shape of a squid.
“I value freedom the most. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, you just have to know how to reintepret it. Caviar is essentially salt, so why not use it as a seasoning?”
“We can learn so much from nature and terroir; Partridges eat thyme in the wild, it's seasoning that nature intended. When you cook this way, you respect and pay homage to where the ingredient came from.”
“Limitation is a false concept. With creative cooking processes, even humble ingredients like tubers can be turned into a 10-course menu. Challenge the status quo.”
IT GETS BETTER WITH AGE
Fermentation and ageing is yet another current trend that does not seem to be waning in popularity anytime soon, thanks to the surge of interest Noma generated when they released their Guide to Fermentation two years ago. It’s a straight-forward technique that can be used to create more interesting flavours and ingredients, which is why many chefs have taken up in-house fermentation as a way to exercise creativity.
Pedrito Sánchez of Bagá demonstrated how aging can be done with alternative salts. Among his experiments include a winter tomato, wrapped and aged in konbu to create a creamy, jelly-like texture within the tomato, and a curiously patterned pigeon breast, cured with caviar instead of salt. Joan Roca of the Roca Brothers also took to the stage to mention the potential of fermentation in ingredient creation. Through pickling and fermentation, many ancient plants and varietals can be added to the chef’s palate, including pine needles, wild flowers and legumes. This formed the basis of his Vegetable Ceviche dish.
The highlight for ageing, however, would have to go to Joshua Niland’s presentation on the art of fish ageing. Sure, Koji Kimura gave a detailed demonstration of traditional Japanese ikejime, but Niland’s take was a truly novel one. The 32-year-old, author of the Whole Fish Cookbook and head chef of Saint Peter Restaurant, posits that fish should no longer be in contact with water once removed from the ocean. His painstaking process of fish butchery results in fish that can be stored up to a month without any freezing, and boasts a 93 percent yield. Rather than just keep the prime fillets of the fish, Niland spawns a veritable pantry of fish charcuterie (including spearfish pastrami and trout head terrine), eyeball crackers, caramelised fish scales and cured sperm sacs.
DINING WITH THE WORLD IN MIND
Increasingly, chefs are also using their menus and dishes to make a statement. The Roca Brothers spoke about their experience cooking for the opening lunch of the United Nations Climate Summit. They came up with La Tierrea Se Agota (the earth is depleted), a concept menu that shows how food and gastronomy can tell a story. Some of the topics that they tackled included water scarcity, through a ‘Cracked Earth’ dish that would rehydrate into a hearty broth when hot water was added; preserving the local environment by cooking with invasive species such as prickly pear and Ebro river crabs; and warming seas and acidification with a dish made of various species of seaweed and plankton. Joan shared, “We believe that gastronomy is the solution. Chefs have the power to influence and trigger change in the industry; by telling a story through our food, we can challenge diners to think about what they are eating.”
EATING YOUR SURROUNDINGS
Going local is a chef’s dream, especially in Spain. The wide range of environments and biomes are a natural pantry to the country’s illustrious chefs, and many took to the stage to explain how they’ve best utilised their backyards. Óscar García of Baluarte focuses on the highlands, using ingredients that have been harvested from a height of 1,500m. He presented a partridge dish, served with native tubers and seasoned with white miso, pork fat and thyme – a natural food of the bird.
Begoña Rodrigo of La Salita took a slightly different approach. She focused on the variety of tubers and legumes within Valencia, and used novel preparation techniques to elevate the humble ingredients. For example, purple carrot was cooked slow and fermented in algae, and used as an alternative to anchovies.
Equally fascinating was Ángel León’s work at Aponiente. While touted as Spain’s ‘Chef of the Sea’, his recent menu chooses to focus on the marshlands of Andalusia, featuring ingredients such as peanut worms, Lisa fish, salicornia (sea onion), and ruppia (sea grass). The latter is processed into a slightly salty ‘honey’ and served with a honeycomb sponge to create his iconic Marine Honeycomb dish.
THE KITCHEN OF TOMORROW
While centrifuges and molecular gastronomy are no longer cutting-edge technology, the culinary world still finds ways to continually impress. Pablo González Conejero of Cabaña Buenavista worked closely with chemist Dr. Salvador Cervantes to create new edibles: silk and paper. The former uses extracted silk proteins to form a transparent film that can be mixed with flavours, while the latter uses electro-threading to create edible paper out of liquids such as broth, liquor and syrup.
Xabier Gutiérrez and fourth-generational chef Elena Arzak of Arzak spoke further on their experiments with enzymes. Undertaken jointly with the Basque Culinary Center, they analysed the effects of natural enzymes on meat and fish. Arzak then created a simple squid recipe using both orange and papaya enzymes, creating a multi-layered dish of textures and flavour.
Artificial intelligence and data analysis were the stars of the presentations. Masahiro Fujita and Michal Spranger spoke to a packed auditorium about their work with Sony’s new AI gastronomy app; it collates from a database of ingredients, mapping out the textures, colours, tastes, geolocalisation, perceptions and techniques related to each of them, and uses AI to suggest flavour pairings in recipe creation. They were joined by François Chartier, Andoni Luis Aduriz and Romain Fornell, who created an entirely new dish guided by the app. It consisted of dehydrated Catalan cheese, ruby chocolate, oven roasted nori, cauliflower and pimento peppers. L’escaleta’s chef Kiko Moya’s presentation on neuromarketing was equally fascinating. Through the measurement of brainwaves and eye tracking, the restaurant was able to quantify the emotional aspect of a dining experience. Through a live demonstration, they showed how diners react positively to better plating, tactile experiences and dramatic flair (such as shaving of truffles or tableside service).